‘Rainbow Six Siege’ Closed Beta Impressions

Recently the Rainbow Six Siege closed beta was in full swing, with many terrorists eliminated, houses breached, and bombs defused. During that time a handful of Analog Addiction’s finest spent time participating in the extended beta, and will be sharing their in-depth opinions below.

In this closed beta impressions our editors Nathan Manning, Jamie Briggs and Eric Pepper will be explaining their thoughts on Terrorist Hunt, the Operators, other Multiplayer Modes, gameplay and their overall opinion.

We hope you enjoy our opinions and if you participated in the beta, we’d love to hear your thoughts on these topics in the comments below.


Gameplay

Jamie Briggs: Siege has a methodical approach to gameplay, which is best compared to a match of Search in Destroy in Call of Duty. Matches are slow and if you decide to run and gun, you won’t last long. Though I do think the gameplay is smooth, with responsive shooting, I felt like I could only play a few matches before finding my attention wavering. Siege is good at what it does, but those who may not enjoy Search and Destroy type game modes, may find a hard time finding fun here.

Eric Pepper: The gameplay in the Siege beta was absolutely phenomenal. Controls were precise, the destruction physics were on point, and I truly felt a sense that there were multiple ways to breach any given room. Against human opponents, running into a building with guns blazing may work occasionally, but Siege does a great job forcing you to take a slower, more methodical approach to entering a gunfight. Players who are more accustomed to faster FPS titles such as Call of Duty or Halo may find the first game or two very frustrating, but once you understand the same tactics do not apply to Siege, the game becomes far more enjoyable.

Nathan Manning: Rainbow Six Siege is a different type of shooter. Like Jamie said, the game is played at a much slower pace than other shooters, with no respawns until the round is over. Shooting, movement and interacting with the environment worked fine. Learning map layouts is going to be key to success in Rainbow Six Siege. Knowing where defenders often bunker down to defend points is crucial, as is mixing up your approach to keep the other team guessing. This is a tactical shooter, and one that offers quite a different experience to anything else on the market today.

The Operators

Jamie Briggs: Though I was only able to try out a handful of the Operators on offer, I was impressed by how varied each soldier actually is. Each Operator has their own gadgets and abilities, whether I was utilising jammers to stop the enemy from viewing our location, or smashing through walls with a swing of a sledgehammer to get vital line of sight. Hopefully each Operator will continue to be vastly varied upon release.

Eric Pepper: Initially, while possessing very limited understanding of various abilities, Operators do not offer much in the way of an advantage. However, as more time is spent in-game, you have a better grasp of what is needed to succeed in any given game mode, and it becomes easier to identify who your best options are. Operators must be unlocked, forcing you to carefully select who you wish to spend your hard-earned credit on. There was a pleasant variety in the abilities presented, although I noticed that most games involved the same 4 or 5 operators being chosen on a consistent basis. Hopefully this is balanced out more when the game is given a full release.

Nathan Manning: I enjoyed the variety of Operators, or different classes, available in the beta. Each class has its own use in different situations, so it added another layer of strategy to each round. You can choose operators that blow through enemy defences quickly, or choose for a more careful approach by choosing Operators that can detect enemy equipment and force them out of rooms you are about the breach through. There can only be one version of the same operator on the map at any time, so the game is similar to the likes of League of LegendsSMITE or Dota 2. Each Operator felt different enough to the others, that I was encouraged to try out new Operators each round to keep the opposing team guessing.

Multiplayer Modes

Jamie Briggs: As I mentioned previously the main multiplayer mode that was included in the Siege beta was a variation on Search and Destroy. Utilising environmental damage to get vital sight on your enemies is a unique and interesting feature, but once again the slow pace certainly isn’t for everyone. Teamwork is more than just a key to victory, it is essential. If one of your fellow Operator’s is acting out and not helping the team, you will struggle to find victories. Siege is a team game, first and foremost.

Eric Pepper: For a game which is strictly online multiplayer (unless you opt for the “Lone Wolf” mode), there were not many modes available during the beta. Hopefully more game modes become available both before and after release, as an increased number of modes will help increase the lifespan of the title. As enjoyable as playing the three modes available was, without more variety the game will only appeal to gamers for so long.

Nathan Manning: Yes, there were a limited amount of multiplayer modes, but it was only a beta. Let’s remember, games like Counter-Strike pretty much only have one mode, so it doesn’t make or break a game. I enjoyed what was on offer: one game mode had the attacking team trying to defuse one of two bombs, while the other mode had the attacking team trying to secure a room on the map. Both played out differently, with teams more spread out for the bomb game type, while the secure game type saw defenders stay closer together because there was only one objective.

Terrorist Hunt

Jamie Briggs: The most fun I had during the Siege beta was in Terrorist Hunt, where you are sent to hunt down a group of terrorists. I found these matches managed to balance the intense elements of Siege, alongside fun cooperative aspects. Working with other players to take down these AI enemies allowed me to further explore each map and learn how to utilise my Operator’s abilities efficiently. Want a tougher challenge? Try to take down an army of terrorists solo, or simply attempt Realistic mode and hope for the best.

Eric Pepper: While the game as a whole places a large focus on teamwork, no mode highlights this more than Terrorist Hunt. Without user-based opponents, a squad must infiltrate the building and eliminate all 30 of the AI opponents. Varying difficulty options allow players to customize just how difficult they would like the task to be, but the “Realistic” difficulty represents the pinnacle of Rainbow Six gaming. The moment anyone in your squad fires a shot or breaches a wall, the terrorists will begin to converge on that location, even exiting the building to gain a better vantage point. I was in complete awe at how dynamic the AI strategy could be, and it’s safe to say that no other mode in Siege will put your teamwork and strategy to the test better than Terrorist Hunt.

Nathan Manning: I think Terrorist Hunt, Siege’s single player/ co-op option, needs its difficulty tweaked before launch. Three difficulties were available in the beta, ‘normal’, ‘hard’ and ‘realistic’. With five people, normal and hard difficulties could be completed without too much of a hassle, while realistic difficulty should have its name changed to “damn near impossible”. With that said, playing the game type with less players, two in this case, provided an intense experience as we worked together to eliminate enemies one room at a time, knowing that one wrong move could mean death because of no regenerating health. Terrorist Hunt is essentially playing the same maps from multiplayer, except with the map riddled with computer controlled enemies. As a multiplayer gamer at heart, I can’t see myself spending too much time in this mode because it doesn’t offer much I can’t get against real opponents.

Overall Impressions

Jamie Briggs: I enjoyed Siege, but unfortunately most of my time was spent waiting. Waiting for a match, waiting for the match to load, then waiting to find another match because I was kicked out. Now I know this is a beta and hopefully these server issues are fixed at launch, but even then I don’t think I’ll be purchasing Siege come release. Siege will require a lot of time to really fine tune an effective strategy, and it doesn’t accommodate those wanting to hop in have some fun and move on. Those wanting a shooter that can keep them entertained for months with online multiplayer, will certainly love Siege.

Eric Pepper: When the Siege beta worked, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Waiting for matchmaking took an excruciatingly long time some days, and once you found a match, there was no guarantee you wouldn’t be immediately booted back to the main menu due to stability issues. The simplest method seemed to be sticking with the same squad you had just played with as the game would attempt to find full squads to pit you against. Once past the matchmaking issues, Siege presented a unique tactical shooter I have never experienced before, punishing those who were reckless and rewarding the teams using headsets to communicate. So long as more game modes are made available and the audience is aware that teamwork is key, Rainbow Six Siege is looking like it will provide the dynamic team-based FPS we have been waiting for.

Nathan Manning: I enjoyed my time with Rainbow Six Siege, and look forward to jumping back in come December. Gameplay is unique and fun, offering a slower pace and much more dynamic matches thanks to the destructibility. Being a multiplayer only game, the maps in the game will have to feel different enough to each other to keep the game feeling fresh. In the beta, the three maps did feel different to each other, but the limited amount left me wanting to put the controller down earlier than I normally would. With all of the maps in the base game, I’m hoping it won’t still be the case.